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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24211900">Elbow Grease</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebsrebsrebsrebs/pseuds/rebsrebsrebsrebs'>rebsrebsrebsrebs</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Shall We Date?: Obey Me!</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bonding, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, Named MC, Pre-Relationship, Swearing, and plenty of it!!, but post pact, i researched how cars work for this, idiots to lovers, they refer to the car with she pronouns but every car bro i've ever met does that so it's here too, witches ain't shit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 16:21:28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,382</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24211900</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebsrebsrebsrebs/pseuds/rebsrebsrebsrebs</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Every relationship takes work. Sometimes that work is literally fixing your friend's car.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Main Character/Mammon (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>59</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Elbow Grease</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Your room is a <em> garage </em>?"</p><p>Sonja stares up at the vehicle from the door to Mammon's room, barely believing what she sees. She believed him when he said he had enough room for a pool table - even her guest room had plenty of space - but this was ridiculous. And <em> really </em> fucking cool.</p><p>"She's pretty ain't she?" Mammon shoves past her with an acre-wide smile to gesture at the car with his arms spread out. "Feast your eyes on the Demonio 666 Luxura! The most beautiful car in the Devildom, my favorite, and my baby!" He revels in Sonja's expression, eyes wide and shining with appreciation.</p><p>"She gives Goldie a run for her money doesn't she?" They had come here to play pool and test her knowledge of physics versus his luck, but that's far gone now. The Luxura is <em> gorgeous </em>, graceful, and shined to a mirror finish. Sonja had prettied up plenty of cars in her time, but this one was clearly special. She had to see more.</p><p>"What? You think I could ever love anything more than Goldie?" Mammon flusters and puffs out his chest with playful indignance. "I thought you knew me at least a little! Nothing could ever replace -- wait, what are ya doin'!?" In his grandstanding he had missed that she dodged his flailing arms to go climb the stairs.</p><p>"I'm gonna go take a look at--"</p><p>"Uh-uh! Absolutely not!" Sonja stumbles torso-first into Mammon as he materializes in front of her - Levi wasn't kidding about how fast he is - and catches her by the shoulder. She's bigger, but he's stronger, and his grip is testament to that. "No gettin' up there, no touchin', no nothin'! The last thing my baby needs is grubby human fingerprints all over her."</p><p>Sonja clicks her tongue. "I wasn't gonna touch! I said 'take a look', not 'feel her up'. If you think I'd disrespect someone's car then it's you who doesn't know me."</p><p>Had he not been paying attention for the past few weeks? If she was a stranger she would have understood; she doesn't like nosey assholes near her car as much as the next person, and wouldn't blame him for not taking kindly to her advance. Things had changed since then though; they’d made their pact, gotten to know each other, and bonded over their shared love of cars and driving them way too fast for the general public's comfort.</p><p>"... Well shit," the demon mutters, before easing his stance on the stairs. He crosses his arms with a huff. "Ya don't have to put it like that."</p><p>She smiles at him and takes no caution to hide her mischievous intent. “You can make it up to me by letting me take a look under the hood.”</p><p>“That’s not any better!”</p><p>“Fine, fine,” and she concedes, raising her hands to signal her forfeit. “Can you at least rev the engine so I can hear it? I wanna know what magic engines sound like.”</p><p>“She's magic on her own,” Mammon chimes, “But she runs on good ol’ fashioned internal combustion and gas. Magic doesn’t rumble the same.”</p><p>“I can believe that.”</p><p>Mammon twirls his keys around a ringed finger before unlocking the Luxura with a cheerful <em> beep! </em> The sigh he lets out as he settles in the driver’s seat is gratified and full, proud even. He looks good in there, she thinks, right at home behind the wheel of something so stylish. With one smooth stroke, he puts the key in the ignition. “Get ready for this, Sonja, ‘cuz you’re about to witness the most beautiful thing you’ll ever hear in your short life.” He turns the key forward with a flourish.</p><p>
  <em> Click.</em>
</p><p>Silence.</p><p>“...what the fuck,” he mumbles, turning the key again. Click. “No! What happened!?” Click, click.</p><p>“Hey hey hey, Mammon!” Sonja joins him near the open door, the annoyance sounding clear in her voice. “Quit it! You’ll fuck up the starting mechanism like that--”</p><p>“Shut up!" Click. "You think I don’t know what I’m doing?”</p><p>“Not right now I don’t!” She bites back. “Do you wanna pay even more repair bills because you couldn’t stop doing the same dumb thing over and over again?”</p><p>There’s a brief pause before he slumps down in the immaculate leather seats. His disappointment is cast in harsh relief against the beauty of his surroundings.</p><p>“No.”</p><p>“Thought so.” She sighs and pushes her short bangs back to get them out of her face, thinking about that clicking sound and running through the diagnostics in her head. Stubborn as he was, at least he listened when she told him to stop. She'd been accused of not knowing shit about cars for less, despite her certifications. </p><p>"The starter's probably shot," she deduces. "There's no fixing those, you gotta get 'em replaced."</p><p>Mammon groans again, sinking further into the seat. </p><p>"But! You're in luck. I know how to replace them, and I'm willing to do you a favor. I could-"</p><p>"Oh no no no." Mammon sees that telltale sparkle in her green eyes. "You're gonna offer to fix her and you'll only do it if you get to drive, and the answer is already no. Don't even think about--"</p><p>"You really don't like letting me finish a single fuckin' sentence, do you?" Sonja grits her teeth. Being interrupted pisses her off, and while some days weren't as bad as others, Mammon was frequently guilty. "I <em>was</em> gonna offer to fix it for free if you bought the parts. Because yeah, I really do wanna get a good look at her, and that way we both get what we want, yeah? I wanna see the Luxura up close, you want her to work. We can help each other here. This should literally be the easiest thing to agree to!"</p><p>She resigns with a huff at Mammon's dumbfounded expression and turns away. The metal stairs clang under her sneakers with every angry step. When she hits the concrete floor, she finds a sudden burst of pissed off energy in her lungs that she didn't want to waste.</p><p>"And stop treating me like I'm stupid or trying to rob you or some shit!" Sonja calls up from the bottom floor of Mammon's room. "Why do you get to come up with all the ridiculous schemes? Why are they dumb when <em> I </em> think of 'em, huh? Why do you get to initiate the fun and drag me around, but I can't even offer to do you a favor without you getting pissy and suspicious?"</p><p>Mammon leans over the upper level railing with his hands gripping the bar. The metal squeaks in his fists. "If you want me to act a certain way so bad, just command me, okay? Use the pact like the rest of 'em! Fuck!"</p><p>The hurt in his voice sends a deep chill through her veins.</p><p>"... Mammon…" Her hot head is cooled by his outburst, and she tries to look him in the eye from the lower level. He doesn't return her gaze, hidden by his sunglasses and his hair: his jaw is clenched as tight as his fists. Her heart aches. "That's… that's not what I want. You think I'd do that?" </p><p>The silence is immeasurably painful.</p><p>"... That's what humans in pacts do." He releases his death grip on the railing and leans against it on his elbows instead. "They take. And they force us to give. And they do it until they die." The way he lowers his voice is enough to tell Sonja that decades of being hounded like that isn't always worth the soul he gets at the end. She shifts her weight to her other foot and adjusts her attitude.</p><p>"...I mean it, you know." She keeps looking for his eyes to meet her own. "I'll fix your car if you get the parts. And I won't ask to drive it or anything. Promise."</p><p>The way Mammon looks at her then - blue eyes widened, openly searching her face for deceit or trickery - shows her that he isn't used to receiving that kind of apology. Or maybe he isn't used to being acknowledged as right without mockery. Either way Sonja feels her heart open to him a little more.</p><p>".... Yeah," he finally agrees, after finding her sincerity acceptable. "I'll get you the parts."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>hi everyone! thanks for the read, and for your encouragement on my last piece. you can find more of me and my mcs @rebsrebsrebsrebs on tumblr</p><p>chapter title from i like that by janelle monae</p></blockquote></div></div>
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